1993 1993 Vuelta a España The 48th Vuelta a España , a long-distance bicycle stage race and one of the 3 grand tours, was held from April 26 to May 15, 1993. It consisted of 20 stages covering a total of 3605 km, and was won by Tony Rominger of the Clas-Cajastur cycling team.Tony Rominger, winner of the previous... << Vuelta a España 1994 >> 1995 1995 Vuelta a España The 50th Vuelta a España , a long-distance bicycle stage race and one of the 3 grand tours, was held from September 2 to September 24, 1995. It consisted of 21 stages covering a total of 3750 km, and was won by Laurent Jalabert of the ONCE cycling team...
Classifications	20 stages, 3531 km
General	Tony Rominger Tony Rominger Tony Rominger is a Swiss former professional road racing cyclist who won the Vuelta a España in 1992, 1993 and 1994 and the Giro d'Italia in 1995.He began cycling late, allegedly spurred by competition with his brother... 92:07:48 h
Points	Laurent Jalabert Laurent Jalabert Laurent Jalabert is a French former professional road racing cyclist, from 1989 to 2002. Affectionately known as "Jaja" , he won many one-day and stage races and was ranked number 1 in the 1990s... 243 p.
Mountains	Luc Leblanc Luc Leblanc Luc Leblanc is a retired professional male cyclist from France. In 1994 he became World Road Champion.-Biography:... 158 p.
Teams	Banesto 276:42:43h

The 49th Vuelta a España

Vuelta a España

The Vuelta a España is a three-week road bicycle racing stage race that is one of the three "Grand Tours" of Europe and part of the UCI World Ranking calendar. The race lasts three weeks and attracts cyclists from around the world. The race is broken into day-long segments, called stages...

(Tour of Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

), a long-distance bicycle

Bicycle racing

Bicycle racing is a competition sport in which various types of bicycles are used. There are several categories of bicycle racing including road bicycle racing, cyclo-cross, mountain bike racing, track cycling, BMX, bike trials, and cycle speedway. Bicycle racing is recognised as an Olympic sport...

 stage

Stage (bicycle race)

In sports, a stage, or leg, or heat, is a unit of a race which has been divided in several parts for the reason such as length of the distance to be covered, as in a multi-day event. Usually, such a race consists of "ordinary" stages, but sometimes stages are held as an individual time trial or a...

 race and one of the 3 grand tours

Grand Tour (cycling)

In road bicycle racing, a Grand Tour refers to one of the three major European professional cycling stage races:* Tour de France – Tour of France , held in July* Giro d'Italia – Tour of Italy , held in May...

, was held from April 25 to May 15, 1994. It consisted of 20 stages covering a total of 3531 km, and was won by Tony Rominger

Tony Rominger

Tony Rominger is a Swiss former professional road racing cyclist who won the Vuelta a España in 1992, 1993 and 1994 and the Giro d'Italia in 1995.He began cycling late, allegedly spurred by competition with his brother...

 of the cycling team

Cycling team

A cycling team is a group of cyclists who join a team or are acquired and train together to compete in bicycle races whether recreational or professional - and the supporting personnel...

.

Tony Rominger, winner of the past two editions, was once again the favorite. Alex Zülle the previous year's runner up and Pedro Delgado, twice winner of the Vuelta, were expected to be his main rivals.

Rominger showed from the very start that he was unlikely to be easily beaten, as he won the prologue by a large margin.
On the sixth stage, ending at the top of the 2700m climb of the Sierra Nevada, Rominger took advantage of an attack by youngster Mikel Zarrabeitia to leave all other riders behind and win the stage. After only one mountain stage Rominger was now the leader by over two minutes over his rivals.

In the second week, Rominger put his overall win beyond doubt, gaining another two minutes on his rivals at the Benidorm individual time trial and taking two more stage wins, albeit without much time gain, on the mountaintop finishes at Cerler and the Alto de la Cruz de la Demanda.

Even though the overall winner was set in stone, there was a spirited fight for second and third places between ONCE leader Zülle and Banesto riders Delgado and Zarrabeitia. This fight was mostly decided when Zülle cracked on the Lagos de Covadonga climb and lost several minutes. This very stage marked the beginning of Laurent Jalabert's transformation from sprinter into GC contender as he took the stage win.

In Segovia, on the outskirts of Madrid, Marino Alonso took the only stage win by a spanish rider in this edition of the Vuelta. It was also in Segovia that the penultima stage was held, a 53 km individual time trial. Zülle set the fastest intermediate times and looked set to win the stage and finish on the podium, but bad luck struck, and after four consecutive mechanical issues he lost any chance of doing so. Rominger took his 6th stage win.

The final stage, ending in Madrid, resulted in Jalabert's seventh stage win, a record that also netted him the points classification.
Also a record was Rominger's third Vuelta win. He also held the leader's jersey from start to finish (which only three riders had achieved before) and won six stages. The Banesto duo of Zarrabeitia and Delgado accompanied him on the podium.

It was the last time that the race was held in late spring as from 1995 onwards the race was held in September.

Final General Classification

Rank	Rider	Team	Time
1	Tony Rominger Tony Rominger Tony Rominger is a Swiss former professional road racing cyclist who won the Vuelta a España in 1992, 1993 and 1994 and the Giro d'Italia in 1995.He began cycling late, allegedly spurred by competition with his brother...	Mapei Clas Mapei (cycling team) Mapei was an Italian based road bicycle racing team active from 1993 to 2002, named after sponsoring firm Mapei. From 2003 Mapei dropped the sponsorate, and a new team was built on top of the old with the name of Quick Step-Davitamon....	92h 07' 48s
2	Mikel Zarrabeitia Mikel Zarrabeitia Mikel Zarrabeitia Uranga is a Spanish former road bicycle racer.In the 11th stage of the Vuelta a España 2000 Zarrabeitia cut off the top of his finger. He was trying to repair his distance counter during the descent from Alt de la Rabassa when the accident happened.-Palmarès:1992...	Banesto-Pinarello	a 7' 28s
3	Pedro Delgado Pedro Delgado Pedro Delgado Robledo , also known as Perico, is a Spanish former professional road bicycle racer. He won the 1988 Tour de France, as well as the Vuelta a España in 1985 and 1989....	Banesto-Pinarello	a 9' 27s
4	Alex Zülle Alex Zülle Alex Zülle is a Swiss former professional road bicycle racer. During the 1990s he was one of the best cyclists in the world, winning the Vuelta a España twice and taking the second place in 1999 Tour de France. He was world time-trial champion in Lugano in 1996.-Early career:Zülle was born and...	ONCE	a 10' 54s
5	Oliverio Rincón Oliverio Rincón Oliverio Rincón Quintana is a Colombian former road bicycle racer. He is the older brother of Daniel Rincón.-Palmarès:1989...	ONCE	a 13' 09s
6	Luc Leblanc Luc Leblanc Luc Leblanc is a retired professional male cyclist from France. In 1994 he became World Road Champion.-Biography:...	Festina-Lotus Festina cycling team Festina is a former professional cycling team that was active in the professional peloton from 1989 to 2001. The team was sponsored by the watch manufacturers Festina Lotus AV.-Beginnings:...	a 15' 27s
7	Vicente Aparicio	Banesto-Pinarello	a 15' 48s
8	Luis Pérez	Castellblanch - Deportpublic	a 16' 46s
9	Fernando Escartín Fernando Escartín Fernando Escartín Coti is a Spanish former road racing cyclist. He won a stage and finished third overall in the 1999 Tour de France.He was born in Biescas, Aragon.- Major achievements :Tour de France record* 1992: 45th overall...	Mapei Clas Mapei (cycling team) Mapei was an Italian based road bicycle racing team active from 1993 to 2002, named after sponsoring firm Mapei. From 2003 Mapei dropped the sponsorate, and a new team was built on top of the old with the name of Quick Step-Davitamon....	a 16' 54s
10	Alberto Camargo	Artiach-Nabisco	a 20' 35s
11	Jon Unzaga Bombin	Mapei Clas Mapei (cycling team) Mapei was an Italian based road bicycle racing team active from 1993 to 2002, named after sponsoring firm Mapei. From 2003 Mapei dropped the sponsorate, and a new team was built on top of the old with the name of Quick Step-Davitamon....
12	Luis Espinosa Luis Espinosa Luis Edgar Espinosa Sepúlveda is a retired male road cyclist from Colombia, who was a professional from 1992 to 1997.-Career:19911992...	Artiach-Nabisco
13	Paolo Lanfranchi
14	Pascal Lino Pascal Lino Pascal Lino is a French former road racing cyclist, who was born in Sartrouville, Yvelines.Lino turned professional in 1988, and is most famous for being the wearer of the yellow jersey of the 1992 Tour de France for 11 days...	Festina-Lotus Festina cycling team Festina is a former professional cycling team that was active in the professional peloton from 1989 to 2001. The team was sponsored by the watch manufacturers Festina Lotus AV.-Beginnings:...
15	Íñigo Cuesta López	Euskadi-Orbea Euskaltel-Euskadi Euskaltel-Euskadi is a professional road bicycle racing team from Spain. The team is commercially sponsored, but also works as an unofficial Basque national team and is partly funded by the Basque Government. Its riders are either from Basque Country, or at least have grown up in the cycling...
16	Ignacio García Camacho	Kelme-Avianca
17	Joaquim Augusto Gomes	Boavista-Recer
18	Melchor Mauri Melchor Mauri Melcior Mauri Prat is a retired Spanish professional cyclist who won the 1991 Vuelta a España. He has also won numerous other small stage races, mainly due to his abilities as a time triallist, and is a former World silver medallist in this discipline.In November 2007 he won the second edition of...	Banesto-Pinarello
19	Erik Breukink Erik Breukink Erik Breukink is a former professional road racing cyclist. In 1988, Breukink won the youth competition in the Tour de France. In 1990, Breukink reached the podium in Paris, finishing 3rd in the 1990 Tour de France...	ONCE
20	Abraham Olano Ábraham Olano Abraham Olano Manzano is a Spanish Basque former professional road racing cyclist. His crowning achievement came in 1995 when he became World Road Champion...	Mapei Clas Mapei (cycling team) Mapei was an Italian based road bicycle racing team active from 1993 to 2002, named after sponsoring firm Mapei. From 2003 Mapei dropped the sponsorate, and a new team was built on top of the old with the name of Quick Step-Davitamon....
21	Félix Garcia	Artiach-Nabisco
22	Federico Echave Federico Echave Federico Echave Musatadi is a Spanish former professional road bicycle racer. He won the prestigious stage up to Alpe d'Huez in 1987 Tour de France.- Major results :1982 - Teka1983 - Teka1984 - Teka1985 - Teka...	Mapei Clas Mapei (cycling team) Mapei was an Italian based road bicycle racing team active from 1993 to 2002, named after sponsoring firm Mapei. From 2003 Mapei dropped the sponsorate, and a new team was built on top of the old with the name of Quick Step-Davitamon....
23	Massimiliano Lelli Massimiliano Lelli Massimiliano Lelli was an Italian professional cyclist. He most known for winning the Young rider Classification in the 1991 Giro d'Italia. His highest finishing in the Giro d'Italia was the year he won the Young rider classification, he placed third that year...
24	Arsenio Gonzalez Gutierrez	Mapei Clas Mapei (cycling team) Mapei was an Italian based road bicycle racing team active from 1993 to 2002, named after sponsoring firm Mapei. From 2003 Mapei dropped the sponsorate, and a new team was built on top of the old with the name of Quick Step-Davitamon....
25	Peter Meinert Nielsen Peter Meinert Nielsen Peter Meinert Nielsen is a retired road bicycle racer from Denmark, who was a professional rider from 1990 to 2000...	TVM-Bison TVM (cycling team) TVM was a Dutch road bicycle racing team. It folded in 2000, two years after suffering a doping scandal. Farm Frites continued as a sponsor in 2001 with the new team, .-Names:-Riders:...

External links

• La Vuelta (Official site in Spanish, English, and French)